1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to migration of setting values of an application that operates in an image forming apparatus and setting values of an image forming apparatus main body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-164902 discusses a technique for preventing loss of setting information about an image forming apparatus when firmware is updated. According to this technique, when firmware is updated, if map information about setting values is changed, a setting migration program is simultaneously installed. This setting migration program determines a correspondence relationship between the map information before the update and the map information after the update and migrates the setting values.
This technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-164902 is directed to accurate migration of setting values even when map information (storage location) about setting values of an image forming apparatus main body is changed due to change of firmware.
Thus, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-164902 only assumes migration of setting values in an image forming apparatus when firmware is updated. Thus, the technique cannot be applied when setting values are migrated or changed due to other reasons.
For example, when a new application is added or when an application is updated in an image forming apparatus, there are cases where certain setting values of the image forming apparatus need to be changed for an operation of the application (setting values of the image forming apparatus main body that relate to the application).
More specifically, when Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) communication to a newly added or updated application needs to be improved to a higher security level, all the HTTP communication to the image forming apparatus needs to be set to HTTPS communication.
In addition, when single account information in an image forming apparatus is allocated for an operation of a certain application, appropriate account information that exists in the image forming apparatus needs to be allocated accurately.
In addition, setting needs to be made so that a certain application gives priority to a driver controlling an external apparatus such as a universal serial bus (USB) device connected to an image forming apparatus over a driver installed on the image forming apparatus.
In addition, when a certain application operates, administrator settings need to be activated to restrict use of an image forming apparatus, so that users without administrator authority cannot operate the image forming apparatus.
In addition, when a certain application refers to communication proxy server settings based on a certain protocol such as HTTP in an image forming apparatus, the settings need to be set in an appropriate proxy server.
In addition, when a certain application is activated, discharge bins of an image forming apparatus need to be set separately depending on the job type such as a print job or a copy job.
Thus, there are many cases where setting values of an image forming apparatus main body are changed depending on an application added to or updated in an image forming apparatus.
Since such setting values are changed by a request from an application added to the image forming apparatus or by an assumed use environment, a change of firmware or change of map information about setting values in the image forming apparatus is not always associated.
Thus, even when firmware or map information about setting values in the image forming apparatus is not changed, there are cases where setting values in the image forming apparatus need to be changed depending on a request from an application installed on the image forming apparatus.
In addition, migration of setting values associated with a request from an application is not always caused only within a single image forming apparatus. Thus, when a setting of an application is extracted from a first image forming apparatus and the setting is migrated to a second image forming apparatus, there are cases where setting values of the first image forming apparatus are migrated to the second image forming apparatus. In this way, a labor for setting can be reduced.
In such case, there are cases where the same setting values are set in different models. However, if the map information about setting values is different between the models, the setting values cannot be set accurately in the migration destination apparatus. Under such circumstances, a program (migration program) that interprets a map of each model and accurately migrates setting values is needed for each model. Thus, users are required to execute very cumbersome work of acquiring a migration program for each model and installing the programs for each of the models of a plurality of image forming apparatuses in advance prior to addition of an application and migration of setting values.